Saturday, May 05, 2012

Current Ethanol Vs. Gas Prices (5/04/12)

Tracking gasoline prices versus ethanol prices. The pink line is commodity price of ethanol (which has less efficiency than gas, E-0). The green line line adjusts for this lower efficiency, allowing an "Apples to Apples" comparison with the commodity RBOB price of gas (theblue line). The red line is the average retail price of gasoline in U.S.

As of May 4, 2012 -- ethanol is about 16¢ per gallon more expensive than gasoline on a wholesale price comparison.

Data Sources: Per numerous Sources (DOE, EPA), E-10 (10% ethanol) has ~3% less efficiency than E-0 (zero ethanol). Ethanol on a "net basis" has less BTU content, but higher octane.